In an online statement registered company director Darryl Kavanagh said that closure was due to a “cyber attack”.

He said that it had meant bookings were cancelled without their knowledge which impacted trade.

Mr Kavanagh said it had resulted in a loss of between £70,000 and £100,000 between November and December.

“This attack has been reported to the authorities and is now under investigation. As you can imagine, we are completely crushed – it is hard enough to build a brand from scratch without being attacked.

“We do have so many messages coming in and we are doing our best to respond to each and every one, we would really appreciate your patience and again, we really do apologise for any inconvenience.

“This is a very hard time for us all in Seafood Shack.”

Speaking to WalesOnline Mr Kavanagh said the closure was “a tragedy”.

He said: “We have all been very busy on the weekends but towards the end of November we noticed that we had a lot of trade in the day but were getting no evening party bookings. We felt that something was wrong.

“We use an online booking system so I asked my daughter, who works in IT, to take a look at it. She called me and said: ‘Oh my god Dad, 265 bookings have been deleted out of the system – that’s why you haven’t got them’.

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“She then called back again to tell me that she was watching somebody deleting bookings in front of her eyes on the screen.

“It has had an absolutely nuclear effect on the business worth between £70,000 and £100,000 between November and December.

“This is so serious – our business is in its infancy and this is its critical first year.

“We are at our most vulnerable and this has left us in a really bad financial situation. It’s a tragedy.”

Mr Kavanagh has reported the incident to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime.

An acknowledgement letter says Action Fraud will assess the evidence provided and see if there is a case to answer.

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Mr Kavanagh, 50, to Cardiff from Ireland after the problems came to light.

In a separate development Mr Kavanagh said there had also been an issue with the venue’s alcohol licence.

Legally there has to be a designated premises supervisor (DPS) for any licensed premises.

Mr Kavanagh said there was no suitable person to take over as DPS – something he is hoping to rectify in order for the venue to be able to sell alcohol when it reopens.

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